We are living in a digital age in which numeracy skills are more important than ever. Those who have poor numeracy skills and lack mathematical confidence will certainly experience problems to find a job because most companies today are providing numeracy tests for their candidates. Despite this fact, it seems that numeracy skills have not improved in the UK in the past few years. Although the government keeps investing in programs that support development of numeracy skills, the results are not as expected. This is especially true for working age adults in England.
According to some statistics, 44% of working age adults in England had literacy skills equivalent to GSCE “C” Grade or above in 2003. The percentage increased to 57% in 2011, which is a clear sign of progress. However, when we talk about numeracy skills, the situation is more or less the same, or even worse in some regions. About 26% of working age adults in England had numeracy skills levels equivalent to GSCE “C” grade or above in 2003 and this percentage dropped to 22% in 2011. These figures are not promising and they can certainly affect not only the individuals, but society too. People with highly developed numeracy skills earn more and companies that have such employees are more productive and successful.
What is interesting about numeracy skills in the UK is the fact that there is also a difference in gender. It seems that men have significantly better results for numeracy compared to women. This is especially true for the category of people with most developed numeracy skills where women participate with a very small percentage. In addition, people who live in South East England have the highest mean scores for numeracy and those from the Eastern region have the lowest mean scores.
One of the biggest challenges in the process of improving numeracy skills in working age adults is the approach that we take. There are many different ways in which people can work on their numeracy skills, but this is a specific category of people that is used to traditional methods of learning. These methods can often be unchallenging and dull and this is the reason why many of these individuals lose interest in working on their skills, despite the fact that there are many benefits that come from this activity.
One of the easiest ways to improve numeracy skills is to use the help of Mathematics games. These games are not designed only for children and young people, they are suitable for everyone. They are challenging and interesting and they will certainly help any individual in the long run. The best part is that these games can be found on the Internet, which means that they can be accessed from any place you want at any time of the day. In other words, you can practice your numeracy skills whenever and wherever you want – at home, at the office etc.
Numeracy skills should definitely be one of the priorities of working age adults in the UK.
